Psychiatric medications, science, marketing, psychiatry in general, and occasionally clinical psychology. Questioning the role of key opinion leaders and the use of "science" to promote commercial ends rather than the needs of people with mental health concerns.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Much of the writing about the Zyprexa documents has appeared in the New York Times, but the Times of London is now chiming in as well. Here's a couple of choice cuts:

In one document dated October 9, 2000, Robert Baker, a senior Lilly clinical research physician, e-mailed colleagues about a meeting of an academic advisory board he had attended in Atlanta. It had “reinforced my impression that hyperglycemia remains quite a threat for olanzapine and may merit increasing even further medical attention and marketing focus on this topic”. Dr Baker added: “[The board was] quite impressed by the magnitude of weight gain on olanzapine and implications for glucose.”

Another internal document dated October 14-15, 1998, described the risk of weight gain as a “top threat” to Zyprexa.

2 comments:

I'd say that if papers keep hammering on Zyprexa, it will likely make a difference. In fact, the weight gain/hyperglycemia/diabetes issue on Zyprexa has coincided with Zyprexa losing out to Seroquel in terms of numbers of prescriptions written. We'll see if Seroquel can maintain its champion status. Zyprexa's golden years of sales are behind it, but it can still make some serious cha-ching for Lilly for years to come.

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I'm an academic with a respectable amount of clinical experience and no drug industry funding. Given my lack of time, don't expect multiple daily updates. Certain things about clinical psychology, the drug industry, psychiatry, and academics drive me nuts, and you'll probably pick up on these pet peeves before long...